Album Review: Handguns - Anywhere But Home

The last time we reviewed Handguns, the writer gave a less than favourable review (two out of five). However said writer no longer contributes to our site, so I guess Handguns will be somewhat relieved about that.

Now on to the review. 'Anywhere But Home' in some ways is the ideal, slightly predictable pop-punk record. Like many others, The Movielife is cited as an influence and the title track especially shows this. They have all this expected attributes; three chord choruses built around an upbeat hook with a memorable line of " I'd rather play three chords to three kids, than spend one more day there, complaining about my dead end job not getting me anywhere". Overall the band sum up the life of being in a pop-punk band.

'My Own Captain' and 'Two Weeks' are done in a similar fashion; fast with catchy lyrics. It quickly becomes clear Handguns know pop-punk and how to perform it well. It's fun, consistent and mostly harmless.

To an extent you pretty much know what you're getting with Handguns; even the vocal delivery is at times predictable. However they're a fun band to hear and its clear they're enjoying with what they're doing, both musically and lyrically. Like Title Fight and Basement; Handguns could be grouped with the next bunch of true pop-punk bands that have the potential to grow and "breakout". 'Anywhere But Home' is worth giving a listen but don't expect to hear anything you've heard before.

3.5/5

'Anywhere But Home' by Handguns is available through Bandcamp or can be streamed below.

Handguns on MySpace and Twitter.



Sean Reid